HE CONTROL OF TIMBER INSECTS, OF THE 
Cop; 1 [MILEUCA MOTH' AND THE PEAR THRIPS. 



SB 933 
.R45 



ght, 1915, by FRED REINLEIN, Colfax, California. 



Circular No. 146. August 10, 1915. 



You read on page 10 of U. S. Agriculture Bulletin No. 170: 
"The fact that this species is stationary during the greater part of the 
year and only found within definite parts of certain kinds of trees, 
namely, in the next year's buds of pines, makes effective control work 
much easier than is the case with insect pests which are general feed- 
ers and which are not confined to definite parts of the foodplant, as 
for example, the gipsymoth or the brown tail moth. While the Euro- 
pean pine-shoot moth is confined to nurseries and' private parks and 
has net spread to the native pines, it should prove a comparatively 
easy task to eradicate the species absolutely within any limited area. 
At the present time it would even seem possible completely to stamp 
out this dangerous pest in America * * *." 

All idle talk 

The Bureau ofi Entomology has no effective means of control 
for general feeders on timber trees, by which evidently is meant de- 
foliators in this case. Much less have they a means of control — effec- 
tive or near effective — againS't the pine-shoot moth. Here is what Dr. 
Hopkins, in charge of forest insect investigations, is quoted as saying 
in Entomology Bulletin No. 58, page 8 6, on page 14 of my Circular 
No. 141: "defoliators * * * at present cannot be controlled by any 
known artificial means * * *." 

As to talking about any possibility whatever of stamping out 
the pine-shoot moth, this, I shall show, if made in good faith, is absurd, 
or else a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. 

Since I propose to show a means of controlling the gipsymoth 
when infesting medium-and low priced lands, let us first look at how 

(*Hemileuca is the scientific name of the New Mexican Range Caterpillar.) 



the attempt to stamp- out the gipsymoth failed. 

Farmers' Bulletin No. 275 treats on "The Gipsymoth and how 
to control it" and Farmers' Bulletin No. 264 treats on "The Brown- 
tail moth and how to control it.'" 

On page 8 of No. 275 you are informed that the gipsymoth be- 
came a notorious pest in Medford, Mass., in 1889. The possibilities 
for injury were at once recognized by the State Entomologist, Dr. H. 
T. Fernald. As a consequence Medford began in 1889 a vigorous fight 
and the state appropriated $50,000.00 in 1890. "Other appropriations 
followed with gradually increasing amounts and admirable work was 
done ^ * *. The last appropriation was expended in 1899 * * *." 
(p. 8) "at that time (18 99) it seemed very probable to skilled, prac- 
tical entomologists * * * that even extermination was possible in the 
course of a comparatively short time * * *." (p. 9.) 

But to the taxpayers it did not seem at all probable. They 
merely saw the cold fact that in 10 years the moth had spread from 
Medford to over a territory of 359 square miles, so they stopped the 
work in 1900. This was going to the other extreme and was a mistake, 
too. "* * *but as far as extermination was concerned they might have 
stopped 10 years sooner. And here comes the proof of all, furnished by 
Chief Howard, too, " . . the egg masses are placed out of sight perhaps as 
often as in sight" (p. 14). Thus you cannot hope to exterminate the 
gipsymoth while in the egg stage. As to getting at the eggs, young and 
old caterpillars you find a lot of comment proving impossibility of 
extermination on pages 18 and 19, "^ * * It is almost impossible to 
inspect the thick growth of underbrush for the various stages of the 
moth and there is no method for their treatment at a reasonable cost." 
The underbrush in this case was underbrush in parks, valuable 
city or suburban property. " * * * the young caterpillars begin im- 
mediately to feed, usually upon the lower surface of the leaves. As 
they * * * become larger they feed only at night, hiding during the 
daytime * * *." (p. 14). 

The caterpillar pupates usually more or less hidden. 

Of the adults, only the male flies. "It flies actively all day as 
well as by night." (p. 3.) It is attracted to light. The Bureau never 
advocated a means for reducing the number of the adults. Thus with 



SEP -7 1915 ©CI.A412343 






s:j> 



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the insect spread by 18 99 over 3 59 square miles of low priced land, 
the claim that there was a reasonable chance that it could be exterm- 
inated was a fake. 

"With the creosoting of the eggs, the spraying against the young 
larvae, the burlaping against the old larvae, and with burning in places 
indicated (unimproved tracts of brush land and burning out the under- 
growth in sparse woodlands) the insect may be kept in check." Of 
course this burning is bad from every point of view and under this 
regime would have to be repeated year after year as long as anything 
would grow at all. Even then "... the thorough use of these andi 
other methods of destruction upon a large estate involves a great ex- 
penditure of money." The 'other methods' it is evidently left to you 
10 find out. 

A method I had pointed out as long as 11 years ago, aimed at the 
trapping of the males in large numbers, "* * * after mating the moths 
live but a short time and the female dies after depositing her eggs," 
(p. 13) "the body of the female is so heavy as to prevent flight." (p. 13). 

The male clearly hunts for the female. Being attracted to light, 
an unknown and probably very large percentage of males could be 
trapped! with a suitable trap as described in my Circular No. 145, pp. 
3 and 4. This would result in many females being compelled to dis- 
charge their eggs when these are as yet sterile. This, in substance 
was with other matter for comparison pointed out on pages 10 to 15 
of my Circular No. 141. 

If a few femalemoths can be secured it might help matters great- 
ly to suspend them in a small cage below the pail used to contain the 
males that are to be trapped. 

"vVhere an insect lays its eggs in masses as is the case with the 
glpsymoth, about 500 to the mass, the destruction of one such mass as 
a means of control is equal to the destruction of the larvae resulting 
from the 100 eggs laid singly into the buds of pines in the case of tlie 
pine-shoot moth. "... each one of these insects does very consider- 
able damage, not only by destroying a large number of buds and young 
shoots but by injuring the adjoining shoots * * *. These injured shoots 
bend downward and outward and afterwards grow upward again in a 
curve. . . . Injury of this character is the result even when the species 



is present only in small numbers, the repeated infestation of the lea:l- 
ing twigs during several consecutive seasons producing additional mal- 
formations which result in a much distorted tree of little con.nercial 
value. If the pest becomes more abundant, then the trees are trans- 
formed by the effect of the injury into unsij^ht'y crippled bjshes with 
no commercial value." (Bull. 170, p. 6). 

"The species * * * has been the subject of much study and ol 
an extenivse literature from the time it was first described by S^hiffer- 
miller in 1776 to the present day" (p. 2). It also got a little study 
from me. The results were given to the Bureau, and those charged 
by law to look after the Bureau, in my Circular No. 145, pages 4 to 
;^ and consist, in substance, in showing the necessity of protecting the 
terminal bud against infestation in some way, one practical way be- 
. ing pointed out by pouring semi-liquid clay into the terminal cluster 
of buds at the beginning of the ovipcsi^^ion period. This would apply 
to all small trees, and to the mere of the larger trees the more abun- 
dant the moths are. The moths by crippling the most of the rest of 
the shoots when plentiful naturally materially reduce development, 
and since they attack the larger trees when plentiful and these cannot 
be readily treated, they must be kept in check and a suitable trap as 
there described will do this work. Thus, of these two features of con- 
trol, each serves quite a distinct purpose. Both are manifestly sound 
in principle, but the Bureau did not either admit or deny this. 

My Circular No. 141 was written with the chief purpose of 
demonstrating to the Congressmen charged by law with looking after 
the Bureau the need ol defining whether or; not it is the Bureau's busi- 
ness to take action upon the evidence presented. These Congressmen, 
Senator Thomas P. Gore and Representative Asbury F. Lever, took no 
action. You find them remembered in the closing paragraph of my 
Circular No. 145. 

Cutting off the infested twigs, allowing the topshoot to be 
infested first, is, of course, control only to the extent of finally getting 
a litre brushwood for the big outlay. As to stamping out the pest, 
the Bureau, knowing the life history of the insect, knows there is not 
the slightest chance. 

A female able to "swarm around the pines" each female 



stocked to lay upwards of a hundred eggs and lay these eggs "singly 
en the new buds for next year's growth, the terminal cluster of buds 
being nearly always chosen for oviposition" means that it will go 
in search of upwards of a hundred terminal clusters of buds. The 
higher* the tree the more difhcult inspection, indeed, as near as can 
be seen only the smaller trees can be examined at all in a remedial 
Vv ay, but for extermination every shoot of any pine of any size for 
miles around would have to be examined, for there is no way to tell 
over how many miles the eggs were scattered. 

Hence you see that if these forest insect control investigators 
are to be worth their salt, they have to investigate to the fullest ex- 
tent the possibility of a traptorch, this the more as the majority of the 
other insects can be handled with it, and, in cases like the gipsymoth, 
by trapping the males, offers the only practical means of control on a 
large scale. 

In this connection I wish to point out a chance for the profit- 
able use of the torch on a number of insects, at times quite difficult 
of control. 

The codlingmoth, where single brooded or with only a partial 
second brood, may be said to be easily controlled by an arsenical spray 
applied after the falling of the petals. But where there are two broods 
and over, the broods because of irregularity of emergence in the spring 
become usually pretty badly intermixed. Evidence at hand seems to 
show a poison spray applied when the second brood of worms be- 
gins to hatch will, while fresh, kill most of the worms then present, 
but the poison thus exposed loses its efficiency after a week or so while 
the hatching of worms keeps on, hence further sprays are usually ne- 
cessary for effective control. If there be no apples or pears then, there 
is evidence to show that the moths would oviposi^ on softshelled wal- 
nuts and possibly on chestnuts, if available. 

There are records that tend to show that the adults are apt 
to congregate upon some specially attractive food such as fallen, over- 
ripe sweet summer apples. As explained at length on pages 8 to 11 
of my Circular No. 139, and briefly shown on page 9 of my Circular, 
No. 141, the codlingmoth is attracted to light such as is furnished 
by a torch used as a trap,, hence a torchtrap set to work during favor- 



able nights in such locations is likely to prove to be of much benefit. 
A closely related species infests the stonefruits, is smaller and has 
3 generations where the codlingmoth has 2, hence is not readily amen- 
able to any other treatm^ent, at least after midsummer, than by use of 
a torch. Investigations would show that this holds good with several 
other important pests. 

A traptorch is also likely to be of more or less use in the case 
of trapping day-flying moths that are difflcult of control in other ways, 
such as the squash-vine borer and peach-tree borer; not that the torch 
could be operated as a trap during the day, but these moths are apt 
to be inclined to do some flying during warm nights even after it is 
dark enough for the torch to exert attraction. With the special at- 
tachments as described on pages 3 and 4 of my Circular No. 145 in use, 
there is no need for any kerosene and water in the pail; instead some 
canned squash, peach, apple or anything else suitable might be put in, 
and the sweetish smell produced, by the action of the heat blowing 
down upon it would go a long ways to attract insects that otherwise 
might not show much inclination to roi^e tr M^'ht. 

Timber trees, moreover, are attacked by a large variety of oth- 
er insects. The chief ones are considered, with means of control as the 
Bureau sees it, in Entomology Bulletin No. 58, Part V. 

The most important, as there claimed, are the pine-destroying 
beetles. These fly in swarms and can most likely be trapped in vast 
numbers, as was explained on pages 14 and 15 of my Circular No. 139, 
and on pages 14 and 15 of No. 141. 

The Bureau's way consists in girdling to hardwood some inferior 
trees. The dying condition makes them specially attractive for ovi- 
position, when they are felled and barked, and the bark burned before 
adults can develop. In the report of the Entomologist for 1913-1914 
you read on page 11 that "this is really an extraordinary discovery * ^." 
But on page 20 of Bulletin No. 58 you read: "Among the most impor- 
tant features observed regarding the habit of this beetle was the fact 
that it is attracted to trees girdled by settlers and farmers in the pro- 
cess of clearing land * * =i-." Thus the farmers gave these entomolo- 
gists the tip of what discovery there may be. Similar barkbeetles oc- 
cur throughout continental Europe, but you never heard of their doing 



great damage there, simplj^ because each tree is watched, cut when 
becoming dangerously infested, and the bark is used up one way or 
the other within the proper time; all this without using any traptree; 
and this system is there in force since generations. 

Next is mentioned the hickory bark beetle, probably attracted 
to light and could be trapped. Of defoliating insects that cannot be 
trapped there is mentioned on page 20 the pinebutterfly. The appli- 
cation cf heat generated by a knapsack torch has the best chance of 
proving practicable during severe outbreaks in this and similar cases, 
since, possibly, the eggs may be largely within reach, or the caterpillars 
might crawl up and down the trunk and could be handled' with a torch 
even during the night, or they might pupate at the base of the tree. 

There is no satisfactory means of controlling insects injuring 
the wood of living trees. The adults are usually beetles artd usually 
attracted to light and easily trapped. The Bureau's chief reliance is 
the cutting of the inferior trees and destroying as far as possible the 
insects within. 

The white-pine weevil attacks the terminals of the saplings and 
young trees. These terminals could apparently be protected same as 
in the case of the pine-shoot moth, besides a trap run for other pests 
would be likely to keep their numbers effectively down. 

Certain insects affect the cones and seeds of conifers. Agricul- 
ture Bulletin No. 95 treats on this point. It makes no attempt at 
suggesting control measures, and mentions especially several kinds of 
conebeetles, several kinds of moths, several kinds of seed chalcidid- 
wasps andl a small gnat. If the torch be operated as a trap- for other 
pests, the beetles and moths and the gnat could probably be effective- 
ly held in check. 

Agriculture Bulletin No. 204 gives a "Report on the gipsymoth 
work in New England." After what has been already said, what is 
most important therein, is the claim that "The importance of bringing 
forest lands into a growth which is unfavorable to the development of 
the gipsymoth can not be too strongly urged, as the work of natural 
enemies is likely to fluctuate from year to year on account of adverse 
conditions or the decimation of the beneficial species by other parasitic 
forms * * *." (p. 32). 



The report on pages 3 and 4 lays stress on the fact that "the for- 
ests of Germany are mostly coniferous and that "these are not injured 
by the gipsymoth," that the damage is nearly all borne by deciduous 
trees and that this was further borne out by evidence secured in that 
"* * * in Hungary large decidluous forests are present and the infes- 
tation is more or less common from year to year * * *." (p. 4). 

Because of this it is now advocated to encourage the develop- 
ment of conifers to replace the oaks, birches and other deciduous tim- 
ber trees that are susceptible to attack and which in the absence of 
cheap means of control, as the Bureau professes to see it, are doomed; 
first by direct attack by the gipsy and browntailmoths, and second by 
the attack by borers after they are once weakened, for "* * * spray- 
ing or treating gipsymoth eggclusters * * >!: is impracticable in most 
woodlands * * *." (p. 19). Why only in most woodlands is not ex- 
plained. "* '^- * if there are r resent no trees or undergrowth upon 
which the young caterpillars will feed and thereby develop to a size 
which enables them to attack conifers" (after the first stage) "or sim- 
ilarily susceptible species, they will not be attacked * * *." (p. 21). 
But such trees and undergrowth — grass and weeds — is always present, 
if you hope to build up' a young pine-forest and the trouble clearly is 
that the Bureau supposes that the pineforests of Germany were develop- 
ed without giving attention to gipsymoth existence upon the mixed 
growth between the young trees. Just as every scrap of the tree is 
finally utilized there, so every young tree is watched and receives the 
required attention. The timber when finally sold is much higher there 
than in this country compared with the rate of wages paid for labor 
there, because much labor has to be infested in growing it, and this 
is everywhere shown by the greater use of stone and lesser use of wood 
as compared with American practice in building. 

On plate XLVII of the Agriculture Yearbook for 1914 you see a 
"White pine plantations on old field in Connecticut, three years after 
planting," the young trees growing among a heavy stand of grass and 
weeds, all making first class feed for hatching gipsymoth caterpillars, 
and the little job the Bureau is up against is to show how they can 
keep this grass anid weeds down and make the business pay. Besides 
with the pine-shoot moth now on hand, since the Bureau wants to pro- 



fess there is no better way of control than removing the infested buds, 
yen would get nothing but crippled bushes anyway under their plan. 

It is the same with forage crops. Of these the New Mexico 
range caterpillar (hemileuca) is at present one of the most important 
problems. 

It was shown on pages 21 to 24 of my Circular No. 139, and re- 
ferred to on page 10 of my Circular No. 141, that the torch used as a 
trap at night is the most feasible means of control. The insect as 
egg, larva, pupa and moth is exposed to ready view, and another effec- 
tive wholesale means of control would consist in the use of a multiple- 
burner, described on page 3 of my Circular No. 140, applied at the time 
the young worms are hatching. 

Of the adults only the males have been known to be attracted 
to electric lights and windows, and these only under certain condi- 
tions (Ent. Bull. No. 8 5, p. 86), but this does not prove that a trap 
torch as described on pages 3 and 4 of my Circular No. 145 would not 
trap both males and females in enormous quantities, for, as a sam- 
ple, the groundbeetles which constituted most of the 1,500 insects that 
made up my first catch, do not frequent electric lights and windows 

While these two different uses of a torch as a means of controll- 
ing the hemileuca are the only practicable artificial means known, 
there is another and much better means of control by way of utilizing 
natural enemies. This consists in the use of poultry. 

The Bureau of Entomology is experimenting with parasites. 
Of course, parasites, with or without the aid of the Bureau, may gain 
the upperhand and in turn again lose it. The results, thus far, are 
trifling. On pages 86 to 93 of Entomology Bulletin No. 85, this matter 
is fully discussed' as this matter stood in 1910. For instance. 
CHALCIS OVATA was found to have killed only 12 pupae out of 5,000 
and PIMPLA SANGUINIPES infested only 9 pupae out of 5,000. 

And how is it now, 5 years later. Well, undter date of May 21, 
1915, you read on page 10 of Agriculture Bulletin No. 204: "* * * and 
1 colony" (of Compsilura concinnata^ a gipsymoth parasite) "was for- 
warded to a substation of the Bureau of Entomology at Koehler, N. 
Mex., in order to test the value of this species as an enemy of the range 
caterpillar (Hemileuca oliviae Ckll), an insect which is causing enor- 



—10— 
moiis damage to the grazing lands of that State." 

This parasite, a fly, when forced to breed upon hemileuca ex- 
clusively can produce little more than one brood a year. 

On page 11 you read: "* -^ * 1700 specimens" (of Calosoma sy- 
cophanta, a predatory beetle feeding as beetle and larva upon cater- 
pillars and pupae of the gipsyinoth and browntailmoth, as well as on 
such native species as it n:iay find (p. 7) "were collected by Mr. H. E. 
Smith and forwarded to Koehler, N. Mex., to test their value as an 
enemy of r.he range caterpillar." 

On page 93 of Bulletin No. S5 you read in regard to bird enemies 
of the hemileuca: '* * * A close watch was maintainedi on meadow- 
larks, blackbirds and several other species of birds, but none of these" 
(except robins) "was seen to attack or feeci upon the caterpillars * * ." 

These birds, including robins, it would thus seem will find the 
calosoma beetle and its hairless larva, obliged to work much in the 
open, a welcome addition to their menu and prevent any pronounced 
increase of this beetle. 

Aside from this: "The jaws" (of the hemileuca) "are powerful, 
for their food' is leathery and nearly juiceless, requiring a strong bite. 
Several times while in capti\'ity the larvae have eaten quite a piece of 
heavy linen paper, their mandibles snipping through the firm edge 
of the sheet with an audible click." Which makes it probable that if 
the calosoma, p-assing its first summer as larva, attempts to tackle the 
hemileuca, then present as caterpillar, it will not get old enough to eat 
any as beetle the year following. 

But, what is a dead sure, and at the same time elastic and big- 
paying method of control is the systematic raising of poultry, and on 
a scale large enough to cope with the pest. With an area, at present, 
of about 50,000 square miles well infested, witii the land low-priced, 
good for cattle raising only when free of hemileucas, and not good 
at all for cattleraising when thickly infested by them, you will realize 
that poultry must be raised in such numbers as to be able to keep the 
pest down. 

This idea being new, you cannot overdo the raising of poultry, 
because if you had so many that there are not enough caterpillars on 
your place for them, you can ahvays easily sell them in the open mar- 



— 11 — 

ket or to a man that needs them for this very work. 

Since land rents at 3 to 5 cents an acre there, and when badly 
infested probably at less, and the meatscraps grow on the grasses and 
weeds the year around in the form of hemileuca eggs, larvae, pupae and 
moths, all within the easiest possible picking, usually on vegetation 
below 12 inches in height, and a large part of the needed grain- 
food furnished by grass and weedseeds, it is worth your while to figure 
whether or not it will be possible to raise on these lands poultry at a 
cost far less than can possibly be done most anywhere else. But even 
if it did not paj^ — if this chicken raising had to be carried on at a mod- 
erate loss, it would pay indirectly as a necessary remed^y by keeping 
the land fit for cattleraising. 

It might be argued that these lands are too far removed from 
the markets and that there would be a particular difficulty in getting 
the eggs to market, and other objections might be raised. None of 
these objections are tenable. 

With such a large territory to be kept clean, with the ranch on 
the average, say, 35 miles removed from a shipping point, all you have to 
do for quick transportation is co keep an auto truck line in operation 
over a given stretch, tapping shipping points at the two ends. This 
would make it possible to ship eggs daily or at least 3 or 2 times a 
week. The ranches least accessible to such auto-roads could buy up 
the cockerels in the spring, caponize them and raise poultry for meat 
only. 

We will consider the exclusive raising of male birds first. You 
have the meatscraps growing on the grasses and weeds, and you have 
most of the seeds on the grasses and weeds, all scattered over the big 
ranch, but you have no water handy, no shade, no protection against 
2 and 4-legged chicken thieves at night. And you want to keep your 
fiock always together. 

You might construct a lightly built 8x8 house, or one even some 
smaller, or merely a tent stretched over a frame work of 
these dimensions, built upon runners, well raised to glide over the 
grass and weeds, or built upon wheels. This would give you a place to 
carry your water and grain and other needed supplies and provide a 
bunk for the attendant. For shade you can have wide canvas flabs at- 



— 1 2 — 
tached to the 4 sides of the building; these would give plenty of shade 
merely by tying the ends to some stick driven in the ground. 

For protection during the night, or night and day in case it is 
necessary or desirable, have a woven wire fence 5 or 6 feet high of 
suitable mesh. A few light gas pipe stakes driven in the ground will 
hold it. Or short, heavier pieces, capable to receive this pipe could 
be driven by use of a suitable cap. This outfit is to be moved from 
place to place upon the ranch, say, once a day. This would require 
an attendant, one or two horses, and it would pay to have one or more 
trained dogs. 

Taking an 8x8 building a fence of only 63 feet in length will 
provide an enclosure around it with a diameter of 20 feet and with 
the center of the building taken as the center for the fence line will 
give a clearance of over 4 feet between each corner of house and fence. 
There would then be no suitable place for the horsesn inside the en- 
closure at night. 

If this same circle be moved 3 feet closer to one of the sides, 
•this will give a corresponding increase of space on the opposite side, 
in this case 10 feet as the greatest distance, and this allows space 
enough for the horses. A circumference of 75 feet would add but very 
little to the weight and be much roomier. 

8, 12 or 16 gaspipes, according to what animals have to be kept 
out, would stiffen the fence and these pipes driven into place in the 
morning will provide fastening points for the awning ends. For roost- 
ing places some collapsible racks similar to those used for drying 
clothes placed under the awnings would be about right; or anything 
else that will do for that matter. With thus everything nicely cooped 
up at night, it is safe firing at anything nosing around outside. 

With a dependence for water at the building, with shade only 
there, and with grain fed only there, if necessary only in the evening, 
and with protection during the night to be had only there, it ought 
to be possible to make sure to have every chicken come home to roost. 

And for all the rest this chicken -raising does not differ from aiiy 
other. 

With an outfit run for eggs the arrangement is to be in sub- 
stance the same except that there must be plenty of room for nests. 



—13 — 
This would presuppose a better and larger building, so arranged as 
to allow of a large number of nests. 

Wirenests hooked to some framework are probably best, as then 
Ircm time to time the contents could he emptied and burned. Possib- 
ly s 'ch or similar nests could be hooked also on the outside and made 
to work there by fastening a piece of canvas so as to drop in front of 
ea^h nest, thus providing the desired seclusion. 

It might be argued that the spines of the caterpillars have an 
irritating effect especially when these caterpillars are nearly grown and 
that this would interfer with the wellbeing of the flock and with its 
^vcrk of keeping the hemileuca in chock. Since the smaller larvae, 
and probably also some medium to large ones, are known to be eaten by 
robins (Compare Ent. Bull. No. 85, p. 93), poultry ought to stand 
them of any size. By the time the most advanced larvae begin to 
pupate, there are still many larvae only partly grown and of which 
they can eat in abundance, with impunity, while later there will be 
plenty of pupae and these are spineless. 

The conditions outlined ought to be exceedingly favorable for 
turkey raising, and these are even more likely to be immune against 
the spines of the full grown caterpillars. 

If there then be anything missing to make scientific 
chickenraising possible I want to be shown. 

The product — meat and eggs — should under these conditions be 
of the finest. The commercial meatscrap is carrion and. theer are people 
that claim that many an epidemic has been started through eggs pro- 
duced by hens fed on sucH meatscraps. 

As long as this new industry has not grown to big proportions, 
considering the high quality it ought to be possible for the ranchers 
to work up and supply a private demand and as the business will rapid- 
ly develop, the thing to do is to think about forming a Poultry and 
Eggs Shippers' Association just as soon as practical results warrant. 
How many chickens could thus be raised per acre you may ask. That, 
of course, would depend M^hen you start and the abundance of the p«st. 
If you have a thousand cockerels at hand when the worms hatch, they 
will, of course, clean many more out than if these worms had been 
allowed to grow. If you have a large range full of worms by August 



— 14 — 
15 of this year, the best thing to do would be to buy a carload of young 
poultry and s^et them to work along the lines shown and you will 
have 2 carloads to ship by October, or November. 

On page 10 of his report for 1913-14 the Entomologist, after 
stating what the Bureau is doing with parasites and predaccous ene- 
mies to keep down the hemileuca, he finishes by saying: "An assistant 
of the Bureau of Biological Survey, detailed to study the vertebrate 
enemies of the caterpillar found that skunks destroy myriads of tlie 
pupae." 

The inference, then, is that they refuse to eat the eggs, larvae 
and moths, for these latter rest during the day on the higher parts of 
the grasses andi weeds in plain sight and easiest reach. Then as these 
skunks live for the rest of the year on other things, it is safe to say 
that a skunk that is known to have failed to clean out a birdnest when 
he had a chance is not in good standing with skunkdom. They thus 
then do about as much to increase the pest as they do to keep it down. 
Anyway, poultry eats the hemileuca in all its stages, thus is far the 
better kind of vertebrate enemy. Hence when the skunks come to 
look at the chickens at night, the thing to do is to carry on a little 
skunkfarming, simply by shooting them. 

Carrying a fence along for the night might seem burdensome 
This fence makes it possible to take care of all comers, big or small. 
A few lambs newly separated from the rest of the flock might be pur- 
posely enclosed to attract bigger game by their bleating. The fence 
might then prove to be not a real protection, but it would delay attack 
and rentier actual attack more difficult.. With dogs to watch, and the 
house a safe place to shoot from, you can tackle the biggest thing than 
can come. You then thus not merely protect the chickens, but clear 
the country of roving beasts or' prey, and thus protect the larger stock. 

As for roosts, with the location ever new, there is no real need 
for them. Of course, only a limited number of birds would be winter- 
ed over, and these, with ground changed often, will winter better by 
being induced to huddle together on the ground under cover of canvas. 

Manifestly, this plan of control is the one to adopt, since it 
makes use of the pest with the final object of contributing to the sus- 
tenance of mankind. 



^15 — 

Yoa will readily see that for all-around best results this 
knowledge should be placed before the public without delay. But 
since my experience with the Department of Agriculture for 17 years 
past has shown me that they do not M^ant to look at it this way — if 
such knowledge comes from an outsider — and since the Congressmen 
charged with looking after these things do not want to do a thing, 
there is no other way for the present but to sell this knowledge to the 
man willing to hand over the required sheckels, irrespective of how 
much or how little land' he may control. 

A strong effort was made in my Circular No. 144 to show how 
the country is the loser by the Bureau declining to define what merit 
there is or is not to a means of control original with a mere citizen, 
by showing where this course leads to in the case of the pearthrips. 
Now comes Agriculture Bulletin No, 173 and throws a lot of light on 
two essential points: first, it shows a range of foodplants much larger 
than before known, and, second, it gives the record of formidable 
swarms as far back as 1910. 

"While the pearthrips is distinctly a deciduous fruit insect and 
practically all of its damage is confined to this class of plants, it has 
been found upon a great variety of plants, the list of which is increas- 
ing each year" (p. 11). The list now includes poisonoak, mustard, 
liveoak, miner's lettuce and various grasses and weeds. 

Since there as yet always w^as plenty of chance to migrate in 
California, singly or in swarms of size not attracting attention, to un- 
infested territory, you can expect some trouble when they become 
crowded all around. 

This is made clear by records of "reports stating that the pear- 
thrips were flying in swarms * * ." (p. 36). On the same page the junior 
author records having on the afternoon of March 28, 1910, "had great 
difficulty in keeping both hands on the reins on account of the great 
numbers of thrips, which, flying through the air, filled his eyes and cov- 
ered his clothes * * *." Tnen he goes on to record a case of a Mr. E. L. 
Fellows leaving Santa Clara on March 30, 1910, about 5:00 o'clock. 
On the way, by 5:15 p. m., he touched upon a swarm of thrips. 
«'5K * *the thickest part of the swarm * * * appeared literally like a 
black, glistening seething mass moving up and down like heatwaves . . . 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



-16— 



015 793 691 8 



He thought the swarm to be about S miles long and 4 miles wide, 
from 4 to 15 feet high -k ^ *. This same swarm was noticed by tha 
junior author and by several fruitgrowers * * *." (p. 37.) 

That simply shows what an excess of numbers had developed in 
a certain locality, this in spite of orchard spraying of the Drand dished 
up by the Bureau. The use of heat would make control practicable in 
lots unaccesslble to the much heavier spraying machinery, besides cost- 
ing very much less and capable of being used during a much longer 
period — all the time while the thrips are above ground. 

But there appears to be good reason to believe that this thrip 
could be attracted to a traptorch and thus be held down at trifling cost. 
And since the thrips has now become well established East of the 
Rocky Mountains, the fruitgrowers there had best take notice. 

Although it is not essentia.! 
for success that the above type 

of torch be used, yet its com- 
pactness facilitates the work 
and thus makes it especially 
desirable. The construction 
of this type involves a good 
deal more care than is requir- 
ed for types where the pump 
is located outside. They are 
obtainable through me, supplied with attachments for trapping the 
adults desired in large num.bers, for $10.00 each, guaranteed to be in 
perfect working order, and they are delivered chargees paid, together 
with full instructions of how to get the maximum benefit out of them. 





THE EEINLEIN 

KNAPSACK 

GASOLINE TORCH 

patent No. 73 9,221 
Sept. 15, 1903. 



